HVS Animator User Manual

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A Quick Guide for Manual-Haters

The following sections will quickly get you started in creating and editing GIF animations.


    Creating a New GIF Animation

  1. Create your frames as single-image GIFs using HVS ColorGIF 2.0 or another tool. They should share a common palette - you can do this with HVS ColorGIF's MultiPalette feature. You can also import frames from another animation, but the palettes should match.
  2. Start HVS Animator or click on the "Close" button.
  3. Click on the "Import..." button.
  4. There will be a pause as the Import Dialog scans the files on your hard drive. If you want to see only valid GIF files, select the "*.gif" checkbox. (NOTE: this could cause the file scan to take significantly longer).
  5. After the dialog is up, use the choice box at the top to select the directory in which your frames (single or multi-image GIFs) are stored. You should see your frames listed in the list box at the bottom left.
  6. HVS Animator automatically sorts the files in alphabetical order. This makes it easy to maintain the order of your frames by naming them in a sequence, such as FRAME001.GIF, FRAME002.GIF, etc.
  7. For each frame you want to import, click on it and select "Add". Or, you can select "Add All" and all the frames in the selected directory will be added in alphabetical order.
  8. When all the frames are in the add list box at the right, click on the Import button, and they will be imported into the HVS Animator main editing window.
  9. The first frame's palette will become the global palette for the animation. All frames should be created using the same palette, or color problems and blinking could occur when the animation is displayed.
  10. You can change frame order by clicking in the frame's move box ("<->") and dragging left or right.
  11. Turn on Optimize checkbox (only available in Animator Pro) in the main window.
  12. If you wish to reduce the number of colors in the global palette, select the desired number of colors and click on the Reduce button. Use Auto Reduce to automatically generate a number of recommended reductions, enabling you to make quality/size tradeoffs quickly and easily.
  13. Click on a Save button to save one of the new animations to your hard disk. It is helpful to have separate directories for your input frames and saved animations.








Last Updated: 3-Dec-97